Exterior of Rotunda at University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson. Photo: Getty Images

Nearly 500 University of Virginia students and faculty are upset that school President Teresa Sullivan keeps quoting . . . Thomas Jefferson, the university’s founder.

Why? It’s racist, because Jefferson was a slaveholder.

Never mind that he also wrote the Declaration of Independence, including the most powerful words in human history: “All men are created equal.”

Words that President Abraham Lincoln cited time and again as he fought to free America’s slaves. (Then again, Lincoln was, ugh, a Republican.)

Sullivan’s “offensive” Jefferson quote? UVa students “are not of ordinary significance only: they are exactly the persons who are to succeed to the government of our country, and to rule its future enmities, its friendships and fortunes.” How hurtful.

Happily, Sullivan refuses to cave: “I agreed with Mr. Jefferson’s words expressing the idea that UVa students would help to lead our republic,” she noted.

And: “Quoting Jefferson (or any historical figure) does not imply an endorsement of all the social structures and beliefs of his time, such as slavery and the exclusion of women and people of color from the university.”

Don’t expect the social justice warriors to get the difference, but at least there’s still some sense in academia.